March 1st, 2012

March 1, 2012

EAST PROVIDENCE ‚ÄĒ A state project to replace the Ten Mile River Bridges at the intersection of Broadway, Roger Williams Avenue, and Centre Street is under way, but members of the City Council say they want to see the $2.8 million project finished well ahead of the state's estimated completion date of November 2013.

February 29th

March 1, 2012

PROVIDENCE ‚ÄĒ Movie and TV star James Woods appeared at the Statehouse Wednesday to testify in favor of a bill that would allow doctors and hospitals to express sympathy or acknowledge errors to patients and family members when medical treatment goes awry without it being held against them in later court actions.

February 28th

February 28, 2012

EAST PROVIDENCE ‚ÄĒ For 29 years, the city-owned Weaver House on Grove Avenue sat vacant, shuttered by the city in 1983 because of its age and need for major repairs.
"The 29 years the Weaver House sat dormant was a great loss to the city. Today, it's a beautifully restored building that is a vital part of the community once again," East Providence Mayor Bruce Rogers told a gathering of city and state officials Tuesday at a public open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the Weaver House restoration project.

February 28, 2012

LINCOLN ‚ÄĒ A weekend break in a 20-inch water main had Old River Road closed to traffic Monday as work to repair the leak continued late into the night.
The affected line carries drinking water up from North Providence and supplies a standpipe in Manville but most local services could be rerouted, according to John Faile, town water superintendent.
As a result, only 3 to 4 homes were reported to be without water as the repair was under way Monday, Faile said.

February 28, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ The Ocean State now has a musical shrine to call its own. On Sunday night, a ribbon-cutting was held at the Hope Artiste Village at 999 Main Street to debut the new Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

February 26th

February 26, 2012

Twenty years ago, Douglas E. Connell was helping restore a classic car for former Glocester Police Chief Jamie Hainsworth when he happened to notice Hainsworth wearing a ring with a curious symbol: a square and compass joined together with each leg of the compass pointing in opposite directions and the letter G in the center.
"It was a very distinctive ring that had this interesting emblem. It really caught my attention," says Connell, 63, of Woonsocket.

February 25th

February 25, 2012

By

Ernest A. Brown

Pawtucket artist and garden designer Mike Bryce, whose studio is located at 1005 Main St., paints colorful tiles for his painted garden called "Serenity" - a Rhode Island day trip from historic Providence to the tranquil shores of Block Island, at the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show at the Convention Center in Providence Friday. The show runs through Sunday.

February 25, 2012

By

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ In an effort to encourage reuse of more of the city's vacant mills or underutilized commercial buildings, the City Council is supporting legislation that would expand the ‚Äúarts and entertainment district‚ÄĚ that offers an exemption from sales tax on original works sold by individuals working in arts-related fields.

February 23rd

February 23, 2012

WOONSOCKET ‚ÄĒ Speaking at a business development forum Thursday, Gov. Lincoln Chafee hinted that he might withdraw his proposed hike in the meals and beverage tax if new revenue forecasts due in May are high enough.
‚ÄúWe‚Äôre hoping with those new revenue estimates we can work on the meals and beverage tax,‚ÄĚ Chafee said. ‚ÄúLet‚Äôs hope those May numbers continue the positive trend they‚Äôre on.‚ÄĚ

February 22nd

February 22, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ The City Council at its meeting of Feb. 8 approved several appointments, including that of renewing the terms of the municipal judge and associate municipal judge.
By a unanimous vote, the council elected former state Senator John M. McBurney to a three-year term as municipal judge and current Sen. Donna M. Nesslebush to a three-year term as associate municipal judge.

February 22, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ How much of a pounding from trailer trucks can a 135-year-old bridge take? That's what City Councilors have been wanting to know. Yet the most recent assessment done by the state rates the span as safe and maintains the additional truck traffic is having little to no impact.

February 22, 2012

Heralding the 1663 Royal Charter for the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations as ‚Äúone of the great human rights documents of the world,‚ÄĚ Gov. Lincoln Chafee set the stage Tuesday for the celebration next year of the 350th anniversary of King Charles II‚Äôs grant to John Clarke and Roger Williams.
A history buff who frequently references Roger Williams, the state‚Äôs founder, and the charter in his speeches and Statehouse presentations, Chafee appointed a 34-member commission to organize a celebration for the sesquarcentennial, which will culminate on July 8, 2013.

February 19th

February 19, 2012

Ann L. Hogan has always believed that not only should a person strive to achieve personal success in their own lives, they must go out and serve others. Service to others, she says, not only gives meaning to your own life, it makes life better for others.
‚ÄúService should be an element of everyone's life. People need to have that experience of giving to others,‚ÄĚ says Hogan, 83, a retired school teacher from Pawtucket.

February 17th

February 17, 2012

By

Jim Baron

PROVIDENCE ‚Äď Common Cause Director John Marion, a government watchdog and frequent critic of the General Assembly, found himself standing with Gov. Chafee and legislative leaders at the Statehouse Thursday, hailing what he called ‚Äúa big improvement‚ÄĚ in the state‚Äôs campaign finance laws.

February 17, 2012

By

Russ Olivo

PROVIDENCE ‚Äď The pain started in her lower back and slowly migrated toward her ribcage.
Kristen Dubois thought she was passing a kidney stone.
She wasn‚Äôt.
She was giving birth in the bathroom of her fiance‚Äôs Willow Street apartment in Woonsocket.
‚ÄúI was like, ‚ÄėOh my God. I can‚Äôt believe it,‚ÄĚ says Dubois. ‚ÄúI started yelling for my boyfriend. ‚ÄėHe‚Äôs coming out! He‚Äôs coming out!‚Äô‚ÄĚ

February 16th

February 16, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ The leaking City Hall tower is being studied by an architectural firm in an effort to root out the source of the problem and find ways to remedy it.
City Public Works Director Lance Hill said the Providence-based firm of Robinson Green Beretta Corp., has been hired as a consultant to inspect the tower and make recommendations and cost estimates on how to fix the leaking. He said he expects the study to be completed within the next couple of weeks.

February 15th

February 15, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ The city employees' largest union, Council 94, AFSCME Local 1012 has won two jobs back through arbitration that had been lost last year through lay-offs. However, a broader attempt to have the city rescind 18 lay-offs and provide back pay and benefits to the affected employees was not supported by the arbitrator.

February 14th

February 14, 2012

PROVIDENCE ‚Äď Two Republican lawmakers, Cumberland Sen. Bethany Moura and Portsmouth Rep. Dan Gordon, attacked the 49-state settlement agreement with the nation‚Äôs five largest mortgage service providers that Democratic Attorney General Peter Kilmartin signed onto last week, calling the $25 billion the financial institutions agreed to pay ‚Äúa drop in the bucket.‚ÄĚ
‚ÄúWhat an insult to the American people,‚ÄĚ Gordon declared at a Statehouse press conference Tuesday. ‚ÄúWhat an insult to the people of Rhode Island. The people should be inflamed.‚ÄĚ

February 14, 2012

PAWTUCKET ‚ÄĒ The Rhode Island Ethics Commission has found that a proposal by the Grebien Administration to solicit private donations to fund the salary of the new economic development director would be against the Code of Ethics.

February 13th

February 13, 2012

CUMBERLAND ‚ÄĒ Roger Savini may have been boasting when he said he could drive a golf ball into Massachusetts from his Woonsocket restaurant, but the hyperbole made a point.
His restaurant is so close to both Bellingham and Blackstone that diners ‚ÄĒ and especially his lucrative banquet business ‚ÄĒ could easily bypass his Rathbun Street business to avoid the extra 2 percent tax Gov. Lincoln Chafee wants to tack onto restaurant meals and beverages.